Christmas Comes Early for Employees of Google [View All]

[PeaceNikki]

Google has given all of its employees $1,000 cash "holiday bonuses" and 2011 salary increases of at least 10%, a loyal reader tells us.

The 10% company-wide raise will take effect on January 1, 2011. In addition, Google will also give each employee an additional raise equivalent to 1X the employee's target bonus for the year. And employees will be eligible for additional "merit increases" based on their individual performance. In another nice gesture, Google will pay the taxes on the $1,000 holiday cash bonuses, thus allowing employees to keep the whole thing.

(You can sniff that $1,000 isn't much, but it's a lot more than nothing, and spread across 20,000 employees, it's costing the company $20 million. A 10+% raise on a total cost base of $20 billion, meanwhile, will probably cost the company $1 billion a year, assuming a third of those costs are compensation. Judging from an internal memo, the new salary costs will be somewhat offset by reduced bonuses and stock option grants.)

This surprise news, Google CEO Eric Schmidt explained in an internal email (see below), comes in response to feedback that Googlers most value the salary part of their compensation far more highly than bonuses or stock compensation.

And what does it suggest about the company? Well, first it suggests that Google is still an awesome place to work. Given that employee retention has been a problem, it also suggests that Google is now going the extra mile to keep its employees happy. Lastly, it suggests that the company's financial performance continues to be very strong.

http://gawker.com/5685991/christmas-comes-early-for-employees-of-google

More at link.

Neat :)